Does that famous quote describe America’s future? Time will tell, but the nation is crumbling before our eyes. Like Rome, it isn’t falling from outside invasion, but within.

And one of the biggest culprits is political correctness.

It’s all around us, but especially this time of year, as the assault on “Merry Christmas” accelerates.

It used to be a standard greeting, and people would reciprocate regardless of religious denomination. For those who didn’t celebrate Christmas, most returned the sentiment anyway because it was a nice thing to do during the jovial season.

But that changed as Americans’ sense of entitlement exploded, including being entitled not to feel “offended” because something isn’t to your liking.

“Merry Christmas? Well, I celebrate Hannukah or Kwanzaa or am atheist, so how dare you presume to wish me your holiday? How offensive and rude!”

Nativity scenes are banned. Residents call the ACLU because a development hangs white lights. Office Christmas parties are replaced by generic “holiday” events.

All of it a brazen attempt to make America more secular through political correctness, and those who dare question it are labeled “bigots.”

Several important points:

1. The push for political correctness has been successful, as it is now entrenched in society. Everyone gets a trophy in youth sports, we don’t keep score when one team is winning, and all things must be racially, culturally, and ethnically homogenous.

But that’s not how the real world works. And it’s what the Occupy movement doesn’t understand. You have to work hard for things you want, but when they are bestowed without merit from those who worship at the PC altar, things go downhill fast. Just look at those who engage in PC the most: Europe and the U.S.

2. This is not a call to mandate everyone say “Merry Christmas,” but for the silent majority to overcome the small but loud minority who shout “I’m offended” at everything.

3. Actions have consequences. And until we connect the dots, the consequences of PC will have devastating results.

When good folks start looking over their shoulders before saying Merry Christmas for fear of "offending," it all begins to unravel.

Think PC stops there? Think about that the next time you fly, since it may be your last day alive because your government (we the people) refuse to non-invasively profile the very folks who openly state their intentions to blow up said aircraft. And it gets better, as the TSA just announced that children under 12 won’t have their shoes screened, nor will they be subject to routine pat-downs like everyone else.

What do we think al-Qaida will do now? Here’s a wild guess. Start flying a lot more with children?

So when your wife gets incinerated after takeoff, and the wreckage of a jumbo jet falls on your child’s school because a terrorist put the bomb in his 11-year-old's shoe, courtesy of the red carpet we provided, perhaps we shouldn’t wonder why it happened.

Or when your son is killed by a sniper in an Afghani Mosque that is "off limits" for retaliation for fear of offending the very people who don’t like us anyway, maybe we should think about where it started coming apart.

Was it the reluctance to say Merry Christmas, or the refusal to put a Christmas tree on a courthouse plaza? Was it the refusal to acknowledge Christmas on a public school calendar? Impossible to pinpoint, but it doesn't matter. That mentality is here.

So when the next preventable tragedy occurs and dumbfounded Americans ask how and it happened, well, you'll know why. The '40s and '50s weren’t perfect, but people spoke their minds, were respectful, and America was a powerhouse. That attitude put a man on the moon just 60 years after the Wright brothers took flight but is now a fleeting memory. Which is what happens when you follow the wrong principles.

When Rome was at its zenith, the well-being of its citizens was paramount. All of them. In fact, the Romans would go to the ends of the Earth to hunt down anyone who violated the rights of a single Roman. They didn't let political correctness rule, and the Republic thrived. But when it abandoned that principle, it all came crashing down.

They said Rome would never fall, but it did. Many say the same about America. Yet the whimper is at our door.

So if we are to ever return to our former glory, perhaps that path could begin by good folks jettisoning political correctness and saying two small but incredibly joyous words without reservation:

Merry Christmas!

An accredited member of the media, Chris Freind is an independent columnist, television commentator, and investigative reporter who operates his own news bureau, Friendly Fire Zone.